Meat monopoly broken for the first time at ESAF

"We are simply proud to be able to present our products to such a large audience," said Urs Kern, President of the Glarus Butchers' Association, in an interview with Keystone-SDA in Mollis. The breakthrough of the regional meat producers is thanks to the negotiating skills of the ESAF OC. The so-called "Kranzpartnerschaft" is financially supported by Proviande, the industry organization of the Swiss meat industry.

According to Kern, it was important to the ESAF OC from the outset to offer regional specialties. In the end, a compromise was reached with Migros to create such an offer in one of the ten festival tents.

The response from visitors to the tents has been huge, emphasized Reto Oettl, ESAF manager at the Butchers' Association. He said that the guests greatly appreciated the fact that they could also immerse themselves in the culinary delights of the region at the major event.

Despite the small size of the canton of Glarus with 40,000 inhabitants, there are numerous specialties. These include Glarus pâtés - known as "Beggäli" - pear bread, Schabziger cheese and Glarus veal sausage. Kern emphasized that the whole thing at the ESAF depends on it. The boiled sausage made from veal, pork, bacon, milk, white bread and a pronounced hint of nutmeg is registered in the Federal Register of Designations of Origin and Geographical Indications.

Sustainability with regionality

The Glarus tent at the ESAF festival site will be in operation for 17 days. In the first 14 days, 12,000 veal sausages have already been eaten. The six butchers who produce the sausage have increased their production at least tenfold during the festival, said the association president.

Every sausage that is not transported here from the lowlands also benefits sustainability. A topic that has been discussed in the OC since the beginning. OC President Jakob Kamm even dreamed of a full-surface photovoltaic system on the arena - at least a smaller version has now been implemented.

In the interests of sustainability, the ESAF organizers also dispensed with paper towels in the toilets. Instead, there is a notice on the empty dispensers asking visitors to wipe their wet hands on their pants or allow them to air-dry. Another point was that the Patrouille Suisse did not make an appearance. Instead, the army flew onto the festival site with paragliders.

In an interview with Keystone-SDA before the festival, OC President Kamm emphasized that it was the most sustainable ESAF ever. Migros, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary, is making a significant contribution to this: On the Monday and Tuesday after the Federal Festival, 30,000 Migros employees will be brought to the site for the employee festival - the same infrastructure, double use, a financial and ecological gain.